Transfer mechanism for knitting-machines.



E. U.. AMES. TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES.'

APPLICATION FILED DECIZQ. IJl.

Patented Mar. 18, IJISI.

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E. U. AMES. TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR K'NITTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED DEc.29, 1915.

1,297,632. Patented Mar. 18,1919.

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APPLICATION FILED DF.(,'.29. IUIS.

Izlfvntod Mar. I8, 1919.

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TRANSFER MECHANISIVI FUR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION. FILED DEC. 29. I9I5.

Paten/red Mar. 18, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE..

ELMER U. AMES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO H. BRINTON COMPANY, 0F PHILADELYHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

TRANSFER MECHANISM FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

' Specication of Letters Patent. Patented Matr. 18, 1919. i

Application led. December 29, 1915. Serial N o. 69,260.

Y 10 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ELMER U. AMES, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented the Transfer Mechanism for Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide a method involving a novel series of steps for preparing a circular knitting machine for transferring, the invention also contemplating the provision of simple, substantial and efficient means for carrying out such method including a device for automatically moving the latch ringor yarn changer at a definite time in the operation of themachine, to prevent its engagement with the sinker movement or with the parts associated therewithz' I also desire to provide a novel arrange ment of cams and cam controlled mechanism for preparing a knitting machine orthe transferring operation.

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which, z

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in vertical section, taken through the longitudinal center line of the cylinder of a circular knitting machine, showing my invention as applied thereto; A

Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations partly in section illustrating certain of the parts of the machine in diierent positions occupied under operating conditions;

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary elevationsof the yarn guides and certain parts Vassociated therewith, illustrating the needles in the positions assumed under certain conditions of operation, and l Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are diagrammatic elevations showing the ositions assumed by eertain of the cams and by the needles controlled thereby, during the operation of myinvention.

While the mechanism constitutingl this invention may-be applied to circular knitting machines of various types, it is preferably used with a machine of substantially the construction described and claimed in my application for U. S. Patent, Number 7,111,

filed February 9, 1915, which illustrates and describes the-various structures supporting and coperating with the apparatus shown 1n the drawings above referred to. In these drawings, 1 represents a portion of the main frame of a knitting machine which provides a bearing for a shaft 2 carrying a cam drum 3, and likewise has a bearing for the support of a rotary'cylinder 4 which may be driven by the well known mechanism, such as is shown in my application above referred to. i

The cylinder has mounted upon it a sinker movement including a sinker ring 16a, sinkers 16, and a sinker cam ring 15 with its cams for operating said sinkers. The cylinder also supports short butt needles 5 and long butt needles 6 which are held in their grooves by retaining coil-springs 7 and are acted on by a number of cams supported by a non-rotatable cam ring 8. Said ring is mounted on or formed as part of a vertically extending post 9 slidable in a guideway 10 suitably formed in the-frame 1 and shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

This collar has upwardly extending forks between which is pivoted or trlmnioned an arm 19 in the form of a flat plate having side members and integral with or rigidly connected to a latch ring 20 which is thus4 supported so that it is normally, concentric with the needle cylinder 4. In the channel deined by the flat bottom and the two side members of this arm 19 are slidably mounted a series of jacks, of which two are indicated lat 21 and 22, each having a pair of 2eilonglgatxd pms exten l slots 23 for the reception o ing between the side members of the arm 19 so as to limit their movement. Said jacks are normally held in or tend to return to positions distant from the cylinder 4 under the action of springs 25 and each of them 'acts upon a yarn feeding finger, of which live are shown in Figs. 4 and 5, at 26, 27, 28, 29 Vand 30. l

For controlling the positions of these iingers I provide a series of levers, of which y Lacasse arm of each of the levers is 'designed to be acted on by cams on the drum 3, and in the present case'I have illustrated the lever 31 as having its arm. engaged by a cam 33.

This latter lever is different from the others in-that'its upwardly extending arm has a projection in the shape of a set screw 34 which under certain conditions is designed to engage a portion of the latch-ring-'carrying arm 19 so as to swing it with its attached p-arts upon its supporting pivot 35.

Of the needle controlling cams concerned Awith my invention, I have illustrated the stitch cams 36 .and 37,'the upper center cam 38, a gap closer 50, a lower center cam 40,

guard cams 41 and 42, and a cam providing an annular ledge-43 directly carried by or forming part of the main cam ring. The

- mechanism concerned with the operation of vma these several cams and the detail means for supporting them are fully set forth in my application abovereferred to, although in the drawings of this case I have show-n the upper center cam 38 as slidably mounted and normally forced away from the needle cylinder 4 by a compression spring 44, one.

end of which engages a pin 45 carried by said cam.

The position of this upper center cam is determined by a cam 46 on the drum 3 acting vthrough a lever 47 and a slidable rod or bar 48. The pin 45 on the cam 38 is designed to act on a projection 49 forming part of an arm, shown in dotted lines in Figs. l to 3,` by which is carried the gap closing member 50. The arrangement is such that a movement of .the cam 38- away from the needle cylinder causes it to act on said projection so as to swing said member 50 into its upper position, indicated in Fig. 8, in which its upper face is on a level with the top faces of the cams 36 and 37 a-nd closes the gap betweenlthem.` Moreover the projection 49 is so formed that after having been thus acted 'on by the pin 45, the latter rests'upon itso as toeifectually lock the. member 50 in its elevated position. If it be assumed that the knitting machine has been employed to knit a stocking in the ordinary manner, the following operations w1ll occur in preparing it for'transfer ac'- cording to my invention when the stocking has been linished, -at which 'time the active yarn feeding finger 26 will be thrown up out of acti'on by reason of .its cont-rolling lever 31 having been engaged by the cam 33 on the drum 3 and thus being caused to act upon the jack 21. As a consequence ofY this action, the next succeeding revolution of the needle cylinder causes all of the needles to cast-'o6' their loops and the machine is then ready to be prepared for the transfer operatlon.

The lever 47 then drops from the highest portion of its cam 46 onto an intermediate portion 46a, thus permitting the rod 48 and with it the upper center cam 38, to move Iaway from the needle cylinder sufficiently to allow the passage of the short butt needles without acting lon them. .Obviously 'this' movement *of the cam 38 is made to occur before these needles are acted on or while the long butt needles are passing down under this cam, and' as a result, when the cylinder 4 again turns so as to bring the short butt needles adjacent the cam 38, the latterdoes not act upon them and they therefore pass along on the level of the upper edge of the ring 43.

While these shorty butt needles are thus moving adjacent the cam 38 and before the long butt needles reach a corresponding position, said cam 38 is permitted to move under the action of its spring 45 int-o a fully retracted position by reason of the intermediate cam portion 46 moving out of engagement with the lever 47, which thereupon drops onto the lowest portion of the ward movement, it beingl noted that the apparatus is particularly designed for use with knitting machines of the free needle type. Vith the parts in theI above positions, the continued revolution of the cylinder causes the long butt needles to be brought to and retained at the same level as the short butt needles.v

While now the needles are all at the same elevated level, they are too, high with relation to the cylinder to give the best results in transferring, and in order to lower them the cam ring 8 is moved down by the action of the cam 12 on the drum 3 striking one arm of the lever 13` which is thus swung on its pivot so as to draw down the post 9 with its attached pants :against the action of the spring 11. This bodily downward move-` ment of the cam ring with its cams puts these latter in such 'positions that the revolu-tion of the cylinder 4 brings the needle butts successively into engagement with the proper cam and moves them into the lowered position which I have found best for transferring.

The above described downward movement of the post 9 likewise moves downward the yarn changer or latch ring 20 with its associated parts into such a position' as Would cause said ring to strike part of the sihker p movement, Iand in order to prevent this, `the set screw 34 is provided, which just before the post 9 is drawn down, is caused to en- Agage an adjacent portion of the arm 19 because of the action of an auxiliary cam 33a on the lever 31, so that as shown in Fig. 3, theI latch ring is partially raised or tilted upwardly by this Iabnormal movement of the lever. -By any suitable means such .as is customarily used, the machine is now automatically stopped and the partly elevated latch ring 20 is thrown by hand to its fully raised position, after which 'a loaded quill ring is placed upon the needles.v 'As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the llowering of the needles as above described brings them into such positions avith relation to the sinkers as to materially assist in guiding vthe quills into the proper positions relatively to said needles necessary to permit of the fabric carried by said quills to be perfectly transferred.. After such fabric is run off of the quills onto the needles, the quill ring is removed and in bringing the machine into condition for automatic operation, it is' preferably operated by hand to a sufficient extent to cause the cam 12 to dis-4 engage the lever 13, whereupon' the spring 11 acts to raise the'post 9 with the cam ring and its associated parts .to their normal operating positions. The continued operation of` the machine then brings the advancing auxiliaryend 46b of the cam 46 into engagement with the lever 47 and through the rod 48 2 forces the upper center cam 38 toward the cylinder 4 into Ia position to be engaged by the `long butt needles, this movement of' said cam occurring while the short butt needles are passing it. At the same time .this inward movement of thecam 38 draws the pin 45 out of engagement with the projection49, thus allowing the gap closing member- 50 t0 fall to its inoperative osit'ion. The long' but-t needles are therea er acted on by the cam 38 and at thi time said cam is moved to its full inward Lposition by reason of the main part of the' drum cam 46 striking the lever 47, whereupon the needle cam 38 engages the shout butt needles when next they. are broughtiadjacent it.-

While the first of the long butt needles are being lowered by the calm 38, the latch ring 20 is lowered to its normal position by hand, so that the yarn finger 26 for example, is brought into such position that the yarn Whichit guides is engaged by the last few needles of the short butt series as shown in Fig. 4, and the operator then manually presses said yarn into such position that, as shown in Fig. 5, it is certainly engaged by the first of said long butt yneedles just as these are being lowered.

All of the various parts Vof the machine being now in proper #normal working posi.

tions, the belt shifter handle is so moved that said machine continues to operate automaticallyto knit 'the body and foot of the stocking to the upper part thereof applied .as above described.

I claim 1. The combination with a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, a sinker movement, a needle cam ring and -a latch ring, of means for changing the ver.- tical relation of the lcam land latchrings to the cylinder; and mechanism for automatically and positively tilting up the latch ring.

to prevent its engagement with the sinker movement.

2. The combination with a circular knitting machine having a yneedle cylinder, a sinker movement,'a needle cam ring and a latch ring, of means for changing the vertical relation of the cam and latch rings to the cylinder; with a ydevice for automatically moving the latch ring out of the way of the sinker movement When said ring is to be lowered, the same consistingof a cam, and ,a lever actuated by the cam so as to be operative on the latch cam ring.

3. The combination in a circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, a sinker movement, a needle cam ring, and a latch ring of an arm projecting` from the latch ring in the form of a iiat plate having. side j members constituting a guideway; jacks:

slidable in said guideway; yain feeding means controlled by the jacks; cam mechanism for actuating the jacks; pivotal means engaging'said arm for supporting` the latch ring; and means operative on-'the latch ring arm at a point below and to the rear of its pivotalsupporting means for automatically sinker movement at a predetermined timein the operation of the machine.

5. The combination with a circular knitting machine having a pivotally mounted latch ring and at least one yarn guide movably carried by said ring, of a cam-controlled lever for governing the position of said yarn guide; and meansfor giving said lever an abnormal movement at a predetermined time to cause it to turn the latch ring on its pivot.

6. "Ihe combination in a circular knitting machine having a pivotally mounted latch ring, of a yarn guide mounted on said ring; means including a lever for moying the yarn guide; a cam controlling the operation of said lever; and an auxiliary cam for giving the lever an abnormal movement at a predetermined time to cause it to turn the latch ring on its pivot. 7 The combination in a circular knitting machine having a rotary needle cylinder, long and short butt needles carried by said cylinder, stitch cams, and an upper center` cam mounted to engage the butts of both sets of needles, of means for causingl said latter cam to move successivelj7 into a position to engage only the long butt needles and thereafter into a position in which it is clear of both sets of'needles.

8. The combination With a circular knitting machine including a rotary needle cylinder, long and short butt needles carried by said cylinder, stitch cams; and an upper center cam capable of engaging both of said sets of needles; of a cam drum; two cams thereon; and means mounted to be successively engaged by said latter cams for lirst permitting the upper center cam to move to a position clear of the short `butt needles and thereafter to a position clear of the long butt, needles.

9. The combination in a circular knitting' machine having a rotary needle cylinder, of needles having projecting butts and operative on said cylinder; a cam movable toward and from the cylinder into and out of engagement with the needle butts; a gapcloser; means for mov said gap-closer Lgeaeea to a raised'position when the cam is Withdrawn; and means for locking the gapcloser in its raised position.

10. The combination in a circular knitting machine having a rotary needle cylinder, of needles having projecting butts and operative o'n said cylinder; a cam movable to- Y ward and from the cylinder into and out of engagement-With the needle butts; a Lgapcloser; means for moving said gap-closer to a raised position ywhen the cam is With-A drawn; and means controlled bypsaidvcam for locking said gap-closer in its raised position.

11. The combination in a circular knitting machine of a needle cylinder; needles operative therein; a cam movable into and out of position to engage the needles and having a projection; a lever mounted adjacent the cam and carrying a gap-closer; With a structurecarried by the cam and operative on the leverl to raise the gap-closer when said cam .is Withdrawn from the cylinder. v

ELMER U. AMES. 

